As many of you may have heard, last weekend, Union LA hosted and produced a private visvim trunk show at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, where the likes of Eric Clapton (above) and Mos Def perused and pre-ordered goods from the label’s Fall/Winter 2011 collection. For the forthcoming season, Hiroki Nakamura expands on his hand-made Folk philosophy, diving deep into Native American tanning and dying methods using elk brain and mud, respectively.

His new Cowichan sweaters also use a proprietary natural indigo dye that took nearly a year to perfect. To the chagrin of many customers, the prices reflect the effort. That said, Nakamura has worked hard to avoid the flat quality of mass-produced merchandise, and it shows. Distribution is also kept tight. Currently, The Webster Miami and Union Los Angeles are the only two U.S. retailers carrying the label, though New York department store Bergdorf Goodman has been added to the list for August.